Pakistan volleyball captain Murad Jehan has criticised the arrangements at the Asian Games in Japan, saying that his team faced serious logistical problems before their match against Uzbekistan.
Murad shared a video on Instagram and described the problems in the caption. He said that the team bus went to the wrong gymnasium an hour before the match, which forced the players to get ready on the bus with almost no time to warmup.
He also did not hold back against the hosts. “Japan has destroyed the dignity and discipline of Asian Games,” he wrote. “Really disappointing situation.”
“Sometimes when u comeback from training then the restaurant of the hotel is closed and u don’t get the food [sic],” he wrote.
“So this situation at asian games is not acceptable [sic],” he said, adding that the bus mix-up was not the only problem athletes faced.
While Indian athletes have also reportedly faced food issues in Nagoya, Pakistan began their men’s volleyball campaign on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Kazakhstan.
The team won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-22, lost the third 25-17 and took the fourth 25-20.
Pakistan then beat Uzbekistan 3-0 in their second Pool A preliminary-round match on Monday. The win puts Pakistan top of the group, and the top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals.
They now prepare for their final group game against hosts Japan.
Pakistan are chasing their first Asian Games volleyball medal since the sport adopted its modern six-a-side format. Pakistan’s best result came in 1962, when they won bronze in Jakarta.
Pakistan finished fifth at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
